Francis Worcester Doughty

“ Than that company of men in the so-called office, it would have been a next to impossible task to have found an equal number of deep-dyed scoundrels or red-handed villains.
There was a full moon, and the night was a clear one, and the river-pirates do not choose such nights in which to ply their vocation.
As men in honest callings in life will boast sometimes of what they have done or can do, so villains when in secret quarters, and believing themselves beyond prying ears, will boast of their rascally feats. ”

“ He fully believed that one among the men gathered there was the will-o'-the-wisp which he had so long been following, and he was waiting until this one should utter a word that would commit him, one word by which he would fasten on himself a crime by which Shadow had sworn solemnly to avenge in as terrible a manner as was within his power. ”

“ But it contained enough oxygen to support life, and once satisfied of this, Shadow calmly pursued the task he was at.
Before long, however, Cap returned to inquire into the condition of his hidden articles of value, and Shadow was compelled to again become as quiet as a mouse. ”